HOW TO GROW SWEET POTATOES 🍠

Greetings dear Steemians . Hope you all have began the month well. Today I like us to talk about sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes are one the most easy potatoes to plant.

To plant sweet potato you have to first of all prepare the land. In the case that applies to planting this crop following the seasons, it is good to plant it in June and August .This is because there is intense rain around those months and it will help root faster than in the early rainy season or the late dry season.
Loosen the soil deeply and sprinkle
any organic manure of your choice. For every square metre of soil. Mix the soil thoroughly and rake well. Make ridges and furrows 1m apart. Plant the slips on the ridges 30cm apart. In most cases ,you may not need to apply manure or fertilizer before planting espercially if the farm land was recently cultivated for another crop. They can do well without much manure.

Sweet potato is often planted through cuts of the tuber plant or through cutting of the mother plant known as slips. Cut them into 30cm pieces and slot them such that they are not straight but sleeping. Therefore, part of the slip will be buried in the soil and the other half exposed to enable shooting and roots.Two to four buds must be covered by soil. Firm down the soil around each slip.
They need little looking after and deliver high yields in a short space of time. They are usually grown in sandy soil, or lose soil, which makes them easier to dig up. But they also do well in most soils, even heavy clay.All they need is the breathable ground that can hold the tubers and allow them to mature.

Monitor the growth of the slips and weed regularly. They will not need watering as they are planted during the rainy season.When they start growing,keep a look-out for pests and control them with the correct chemicals or organic remedies. The sweet potato weevil is the most common pest you are likely to find.sometimes they are attached in the farm another time they are attacked after being harvested. Thank you for reading .I will complete this article another day.